Last Updated on January 14, 2016

Most of the builds that I share here use a micro ATX motherboard to save on the cash amount. When it comes to having the lowest price build possible, 9 times out of 10 you’ll be using a micro ATX to save a good bit of cash.

It works just fine, I used a micro ATX board with my first build and moved up to an ATX board when I wanted to make a new PC for myself. I found it less stressful for little things such as using the PCIe slot for an adapter and plugging in the USB slots and buttons into the correct prongs. Little parts like that are easier with a bigger board.

 

Does Your Build Have A Micro ATX Board?

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If so, did you find yourself getting stressed at all during the process of putting it together?

Most of the online community for PC building always preach to grab an ATX board because of how much more room it provides but for us money saving budget builders… micro ATX definitely is the way to go.

Unless you’re working with a $700+ budget, usually if you have that much then an ATX board doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re spending more money than you should spend. You’ve definitely got to make sure that your board is made with quality whether it’s a micro ATX, ATX or even micro ITX.

 

Quality Is What Matters Most

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When it comes to motherboards you definitely don’t want to go with the absolute cheapest board that is compatible with everything else on your build. Micro ATX boards are usually the lowest priced option but there are some that are made without quality in mind.

If you don’t get a quality motherboard then you’re going to find that the BIOS and readings are going to be stressful. That and for the most part, super low priced motherboards actually start dying out literally within a month or so. There are plenty of high quality micro ATX boards on the market, I only share ones that have a good reputation here!

If you’re investing in a PC build strictly for gaming then you’d be wasting your money and energy by simply trying to get the cheapest of the cheap. I totally understand that you want to have the lowest overall price as possible but when it comes to the motherboard, you can’t just simply cheap it out and get away with it.

It’s a lot like power supplies. I once had a friend that spent about $30 on a 750w power supply. Only $30!!!

It was from an odd looking site… I can’t quite remember what website it was or what the brand of the power supply was but in about a week’s time he saw smoke come up and out of his power supply. He didn’t spill anything on it, wasn’t having super demanding hardware that required more wattage…

The supply literally just blew up. He unplugged everything quickly and thankfully it didn’t catch on fire or anything like that but it was crazy. He got a refund and left horrible reviews for it.

Moral of the story, don’t cheap out when it comes to computer hardware. Quality truly matters when it comes to all of your parts.

 

Do Your Own Research

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Sure there is a very good amount of information that I’ve provided here within the different builds that are available but I also want to encourage you to do your own research as well. It helps to become as informed as you possibly can on all types of computer hardware.

Research what different BIOS settings mean and research the motherboard that you are thinking about picking up for your build. You’d be surprised about what you might be able to find out about it!

So, are you using a micro ATX board?

Did you purchase one that I recommended here? How is it performing?

Let me know in the comments below! 😀